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"My son had a reaction to nuts"

About: East Surrey Hospital / Accident and emergency East Surrey Hospital / Paediatrics South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust / Emergency ambulance

(as a parent/guardian),

My son had a reaction after eating some nuts we called an ambulance due to this being the first time of it happening to him. The ambulance staff were so great they made my son feel at ease. We were then taken to East Surrey Children’s emergency department, we arrived in the evening and it said on the screen there was a 2 hour waiting time, which is fine I didn’t expect to be seen right away. I followed up an hour and 45 mins later just to get an estimate of how much longer it could be, at this time I was told there was 2 people in front of us. I then followed up again an hour later and was told we are next. After 3 hrs of waiting we still haven’t been called, so I ask again and  I’m told that the Dr had clicked my sons name and he’ll be next. Another 30 mins later I still haven’t been called so I follow again and I’m told the Dr  got called for a meeting.

By this time I’m losing my patients, my son is knackered and no one has up dated us the screen in the waiting area still says a 2 hour wait. I explain to the person on the information desk that we’ve been waiting for a long time, longer than the waiting time stated. I appreciate that emergencies come in and the staff are working really hard but as soon I mention how long I’ve been waiting the staff member I was speaking to got on the defensive straight away. I get that they must hear this 1000 times a day but I didn’t raise my voice and I wasn’t rude all I ask is that I’m kept up to date and not left waiting. I feel like it if I didn’t kept going up I would have sat there for even longer. 

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Responses

Response from Marie Clifford, Patient Experience Officer, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 2 years ago
Marie Clifford
Patient Experience Officer,
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 20/06/2022 at 10:35
Published on Care Opinion at 10:35


Thank you very much for posting your kind comments on the ambulance staff who attended your son. We would very much like to let the members of staff know what you have said and we would be grateful if you could contact us to let us know further details so that we can identify who they were. We will then pass your comments onto the staff concerned and their managers.

Our email address is compliments@secamb.nhs.uk and our telephone number is 0300 123 9242.

I hope that your son received the treatment he needed and was soon fully recovered.

Best wishes.

Marie

Marie Clifford

Patient Experience Officer

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

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Response from Osama Nooh, General Manager, Surgical Division, Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 2 years ago
Osama Nooh
General Manager, Surgical Division,
Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Submitted on 22/06/2022 at 10:36
Published on Care Opinion at 10:39


Dear Funnygt95,

First of all I hope that your son has now recovered from his reaction episode and is being offered to treatment and support he requires.

I am sorry to hear of the unfortunate experience that your son has gone through following the allergic reaction. I am also very pleased to hear that our Ambulance service colleagues have been able to offer the high quality service that they strive so hard to achieve despite the challenges that are currently being faced.

As you may know emergency services across the country are significantly challenged at the moment with much higher than usual attendances and increased complexity of patients. This has put a huge strain on our services and unfortunately results in increased waiting times. I apologise for the inconvenience that you and your son had to go through as a result of these challenges but can advise you that all our teams and services are working as hard as they can and in cooperation with wider partners and colleagues as well to manage and navigate through the this increased workload.

I will feedback your comments to the team so that they can identify some learning points to incorporate into their practice and continue to improve the quality and experience of our services for the future.

Once again I apologise for the inconvinience and wish your son a full recovery.

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